Unitary Plan Overlays for Everybody

The Auckland Unitary Plan is out now for a period of non-statutory consultation. There has been a lot of media attention – particularly on the matter of density and permitted building height. The plan is generating a lot of interest – both negative and positive – which is to be expected.

At yesterday’s Auckland Plan Committee meeting – alongside the big matter of POAL’s Expansion plans – the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board presented its Area Plan for incorporation into the Unitary Plan.

Now this might not sound a big deal in the big wide world of Auckland planning. But believe me – it is significant. For a variety of reasons….

One of the big drivers for a Unitary Plan were arguments from developers, the development community, and those complaining about “red tape” – and wanting harmonization, simplification, the same zonings and planning controls across Auckland. Many have argued against this – that the fine grain of urban form, and the achievement of diversity of housing types and communities, and of difference, as is commonly seen in cities around the world – will be undermined if regulatory tools become the same across Auckland. One size fits all.

However. Having a single Auckland Council, with a single Auckland Plan, and a single Unitary Plan in terms of the Resource Management Act, is what we’ve got, and the ducks are all lining up for simplification in land use planning. For example there are just four residential zones in the Unitary Plan (five if you include rural and coastal):

• Single House
• Mixed Housing
• Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings
• Large Lot
• Rural and Coastal Settlement.

“…Collectively, these zones provide for a mix of housing types, ranging from a single detached house on a suburban section to an apartment near a metropolitan centre to a bach in a coastal settlement. This range of housing types will provide for greater housing choice and improve housing affordability that is necessary to meet the needs of Auckland's diverse population.

The Single House, Mixed Housing and the Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zones are applied in existing and future urban areas and provide for a variety of densities. The highest density of development is expected to occur in close proximity to public transport stops and routes and within and around centres. Providing for growth in this manner and in these locations is not only an efficient use of land but will also increase access to public transport and strengthen the role of centres….”

Back to Hibiscus and Bays. The Auckland Plan proposed that up to 8 storey buildings could be built in the coastal communities of Browns Bay and Orewa. The Draft Unitary Plan proposes up to 6 storeys (which officers advise in their report to Auckland Council) “….will discourage development in an already difficult environment…”.

The Hibiscus and Bays Local Board have been listening to concerns from local people and have gone to enormous lengths to prepare their own Area Plan, and have undertaken extensive community consultation. (Staff and Working Group members have had more than 1,000 face to face conversations with locals.)

The results of the consultation that are set out in the Area Plan and which have been communicated to Auckland Council include:

That the town centres of Orewa and Browns Bay core have height limits of 4 storeys

Officers are resisting these changes stating: “…the 4 storey height limit proposed in the draft Area Plan was not commercially viable for selected lots within the three town centres analysed and even the 6 storey option was marginal…” (It is unclear what the selection criteria were for the ‘selected’ lots.)

Attending the Unitary Plan meeting yesterday was Kurt Marquat, from Browns Bay. He owns investment properties there, and has been interested in local planning, and vocal about it, for decades. He told the Council Committee:

 -     I’ve seen zonings for the area come and go. Some less successful than others. The proposed zonings for the area, pre North Shore City Council did not work particularly well.

-         When NSCC was formed, it decided there would be town centres at Highbury, Takapuna and Browns Bay. And it decided that 15 metres was right for Browns Bay. Nothing happened for a long time.

-         Then Anzani sought consent for the first 15 metre building on the waterfront. The public now understood what could happen and resisted it – even though the zoning permitted it.

-         Finally the Environment Court ruled an appropriate limit was 12.5 metres

-         You are now suggesting 24.5 metres – this will lead to serious over-shadowing – and a major shading problem because most streets run East-West

-         He listed a number fo cities he’d lived in (Waterloo in Belgium, Copenhagen) and asserted that the heights proposed would not make the town “more liveable”.

This was a very interesting and insightful submission I thought, because Mr Marquat linked streetscape with building height. We speak of the 4 – 6 storey buildings that Haussmann forced on Paris. And which we all think look fantastic today. But look at the Boulevards they face – the street width can support building heights like that. Look at liveable cities in the US – like Washington and Boston – again, the ratio between street width and building height is respected. The urban landscape is of what is termed “human scale”. Streets can be narrower – but they need correspondingly wide pedestrian rights of way.And this matters because we - in Auckland - are unlikely to be changing the width of our streets anytime soon. Though we might change how the road space is actually allocated...

The most successful narrow streets in medieval towns – with 4 and sometimes 5 storey terrace housing – are for pedestrian only. No cars. The ratio is different – but acceptable because the pedestrian environment is highly attractive and low speed.

Martin Emery of Orewa Ratepayers and Resident Association also addressed the meeting. Reading between the lines, and having heard about this Hibiscus and Bays Area Plan for a long period of time and on several occasions at Auckland Council, I would suggest there is a very considerable amount of local commitment to it.

They don’t want what is in the Draft Unitary Plan.

The last thing they asked Auckland Council for, was to make their Area Plan a specific “Overlay” in the Unitary Plan. Good call. But imagine that. What will the development community make of it? How would it be “read” by the Environment Court alongside the provisions of the Unitary Plan?

Are we talking 6 storeys?

Or are we talking 4 storey’s?